The Ox-Bow Incident

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, and Anthony Quinn, The Ox-Bow Incident tells the story of a murderous lynch mob that takes justice into its own hands when it finds three men suspected of theft and murder at the oxbow of a river. Based on the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident is a quiet yet intense study of the mentality and interpersonal dynamics of mobs. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to Casablanca.

The Ox-Bow Incident was added to the National Film Registry in 1998.

Tropes used in The Ox-Bow Incident include: